Time of the month
by hannah.grahamlecter
Summary: It's Becketts time of the month and so she's feeling fragile. Caskett. I wrote this last year when I was literally in so much pain I couldn't move because yes for some of us it is that bad.


Kate woke up in Castle's bed. Him still snoring away asleep. Although it was light outside she knew it was still very early. An ungodly hour she did not like to be awake at unless she had to. Sighing she tried to go back to sleep until she came round a bit more and she felt a certain wetness along with a pain chewing up her insides.

It was almost definitely her time of the month. Getting out of bed slowly, hunched over due to the extreme pain she was in she quietly got the stuff she needed from her bag before going into the bathroom to sort herself out then trudging downstairs to take some Advil. Given the pain she was in it was as if all of that was a trek so she ended up collapsing back down on the sofa, unable to get back to sleep. The god forsaken Advil wasn't working and she stupidly forgot to bring her hot water bottle with her, not expecting that she would come on the one night this week that she was spending at Castle's.

Curling up she kept on shuffling around, changing the arrangement of cushions - trying to find a remotely comfortable position. There wasn't one. Her cramps wearn't normally this bad so why were they today?

The pain was definitely more located on the right, but that was normal. Not that that stopped appendicitis from crossing her mind. She had been feeling sick for the last couple of days. She remembered waking up a couple of nights ago feeling like she was dying. Just hoping she hadn't come down with that stomach bug that had been going round the precinct. The panicking wasn't actually making things any better. Probably worse.

She turned the TV on to try and occupy her mind and provide some background noise just before Castle came down the stairs. Shirtless and in the boxers he wore to bed last night. Like he always did when it was just them who were likely to be up and downstairs at that time.

"Kate?" He asked, shocked to see her laying there in some awkward position on the couch with the TV on however her looking away from it. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Just couldn't sleep. That's all." She responded. Although they were a couple she didn't exactly want him to know that it was her time of the month and she still thought saying she was ill may make her seem weak and she didn't want that.

"Sure? Cause there's that stomach bug going round. I'd hate to see you sick."

"I'm fine." She repeated, getting annoyed at him for no reason. Stupid hormones. He was caring about her and she shouldn't be feeling annoyed about it.

"Alright." He finally let up and went into the kitchen to make coffee and pancakes.

Calling Kate over for breakfast she grimaced and trudged over, hunching as little As possible - hoping Castle wouldn't notice that she was in pain. That turned out to be the least of her worries. Just the smell of the coffee was making her nauseous and pancakes were way too heavy for her to stomach right now.

Playing around with her food for a bit, she couldn't bring herself to eat, or drink the coffee and castle noticed. "Are you sick Kate?"

"No I'm not sick." She responded.

"You sure? Cause you haven't touched your coffee, your all hunched over and your picking at your pancakes which normally you love."

"I'm sure I'm not sick." She responded, grimacing at a worsening in her cramping and clutching her belly with one hand.

"Oh." He finally realised what was up with her. "It's your time of the month."

Kate blushed and tried to deny it. "No." She saw that he knew she was lying however then responded with "Yes." Still embarrassed that he knew.

"Oh sweetheart. You don't need to be embarrassed." He noticed her blushing. "I've been married twice, I have a daughter and I know my mother doesn't menstruate anymore but she used to." He paused. "I've been around women enough to know about periods and not be embarrassed by them."

"I know." She responded, blushing slightly less now.

"Do you need the day off? Because I could phone Gates for you."

"No." Oh how she wanted to say yes but taking the day off for something as petty as her period really would make her seem weak.

"Alright. Well try to eat some breakfast." He suggested.

"I'm not feeling good Castle." She finally said aloud.

"I know your not. But try and eat something for me."

Kate sighed, picking up her knife and fork and cutting a small piece of one of her pancakes. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep breakfast down given how her stomach was feeling but he had made food for her and he was being really sweet. She would feel guilty if she didn't at least eat some of it.

After eating about half of it she put her knife and fork down. "I can't eat anymore. Sorry." She apologised.

"It's okay Kate. I understand." He replied clearing away the breakfast things. "Do you want me to come down to the precinct today even though there's no murders yet."

"That would be really nice of you Castle." She accepted his offer and smiled weakly. "I've never had a guy who cared about me so much." She confided.

"You've clearly never met a well brought up and respectable ruggedly handsome man such as myself then." He responded jokily, knowing it might make her give a more prominent smile and help take her mind of the terrible cramps she was quite visibly suffering from.

Beckett laughed a little and stopped when it made her cramps noticeably worse. "That's true Castle. I have never known anyone like you."

Castle was glad she had laughed a little even though she wasn't feeling the best. After hugging her they go themselves ready and headed down to the precinct together.

"Morning love birds." Ryan and Esposito teased.

"Go away." Kate growled, as she sat down at her desk and tried to hide the cramps she was feeling from all the men surrounding her.

"They bad?" Castle asked quietly.

"Yes." She said simply. Having to try hard not to cry they were that bad. "And I can't take more painkillers for another 2 hours. Not that the first dose helped mind you."

"Oh babe." He replied, looked at her with concerned, loving eyes before placing is hand on her abdomen. "Where does it hurt?" He asked.

"Over to the right a bit more."

Castle moved his hand until she nodded at him to signal that he had found he right spot. He then started to gently rub that part of her belly with the hope it would at least ease some of the pain.

Normally while at work Kate wouldn't let him touch her like this, or at all actually but it was helping so much that she couldn't argue. "Where did you learn this?" She asked.

"Meredith." He said in one word before continuing. "She was a right diva when it was her time of the month and so I started gently rubbing her belly hoping that if her cramps wearnt as bad she would be less of a diva."

Kate laughed again. "Did it work?"

"Cramps yes. Diva no. But then Meredith has always been a bit of a diva." He responded. Glad that Beckett was now feeling better.


End file.
